Origin of the Darkness
Chapter 1
It was a dark, cold night in Future City and a purple echidna was walking through the deserted streets. As he walked, the echidna began to feel as if someone was behind him, he turned and saw nobody. The echidna continued walking and again felt as if he was being followed, again he turned and saw nothing. As the echidna turned to carry on walking again he heard a strange disembodied laughter. The echidna looked around and then he saw to his right, a silhouette of a figure standing far down the road, the echidna turned to walk away to his left but stopped when he saw a second figure standing some distance down the road, then he heard something fly over his head, he turned to see a third figure standing on a rooftop. The echidna was now scared and drew a gun from his coat pocket, he suddenly felt a hand on his shoulder, he whipped round and fired his gun. Before the echidna stood a blood red hedgehog with light blue shades on his forehead and an evil grin. The echidna stumbled back as the hedgehog looked down at the bullet hole in his chest, which suddenly healed, "That's gotta be the sixth bullet you've put in me." said the hedgehog calmly, still grinning
"C..c..c.Carnage?" stuttered the echidna
"Aw, you remembered me. Well do you also remember how you killed me in cold blood?" said the hedgehog, anger beginning to show in his voice, "Or how about how you shot Draco through the head, after you blew off his limbs with a shotgun?" the hedgehog motioned towards the figure down the road, who suddenly appeared in front of the echidna, making him jump back. The figure was a deep blue shark with a long tail and a fin on his back, "And don't forget about Thea, she was crawling away with a knife in each of her legs when you calmly walked over and slammed her face into the concrete pavement until her head slit open!" shouted Carnage, the third figure leapt down from the rooftop and revealed herself to be a sand coloured eagle with red pants and a pair of yellow goggles resting on her head, "H..how did you survive?" asked the echidna
"We didn't." answered Carnage, "We died that night, us and every other member of the 'Future City Scourge.' Victims of the 'great' guardian of Future City. We went straight to hell, but we were brought back by a new friend of ours, and this time I think you'll find we're a little harder to get rid of. Draco, if you would." Carnage stepped away from the echidna as Draco closed his eyes and raised his hands in the air, "Aqua Oblivion!" Draco shouted, suddenly the ground under the echidna split open and a geyser of water launched him into the air, "Thea, you're up." said Carnage
"Got it." said Thea as she pressed a button on a bracelet she was wearing. A sandy brown Extreme Gear flew through the streets towards the trio and Thea jumped into the air and landed gracefully on it and flew up towards the echidna, who was now plummeting towards the ground, "Blade Tornado!" Thea shouted as she and her gear began to spin. Razor sharp feathers began to fire out of the vortex Thea was creating and imbedded themselves in the echidna's body, making him scream out in agony. As the echidna crashed into the ground Carnage stepped up to him and glared at him, "When you get to hell, tell them Team Darkness sent you." Carnage then raised his hand, "Hell's Inferno!" a large, blazing fireball appeared in Carnage's hand and the glared at the echidna as he threw the ball of fire into his face, killing him.
Then next day at the Chaotix, Shadow, Rouge and Charmy stood in a corner watching Espio and Tonya's latest argument.
"Espio, I've told you a thousand times, no." Tonya said
"Why not? Before Rouge joined the Chaotix you were all over Shadow, so what does he have that I don't?" Espio asked. Tonya blushed as Espio spoke and she glanced over at Shadow quickly, "Well for one thing, Shadow isn't a perverted idiot who forces himself onto women."
"I'm not perverted, I'm experimental, and I don't force myself onto women."
"Well what're you doing now?"
"Knock it off you two!" shouted Vector, who was standing in the doorway holding an envelope.
"What's in the envelope Vector?" asked Charmy
"I think it's a case for us." said Vector as the opened the envelope and read the sheet of paper inside, "Woah! The police force of Future City wants us to investigate a murder."
"Really? Why do they want us? Can't they do it themselves?" asked Shadow
"They say they need our 'unique skills'." answered Vector.
"Cool. I'll fire up the X-Jet." said Charmy as he turned and ran into the garage. Shadow walked over to Vector, "I've got a bad feeling about this Vector. Why would they ask for outside help for something like a murder?"
"Who cares? As long as we get paid it doesn't matter." answered Vector.
A few minutes later the Chaotix were on their way to Future City in the X-Jet. Rouge and Tonya sat at the front near Charmy, who was piloting, while Vector, Shadow and Espio sat at the back, "Why do you keep asking her? It's obvious she doesn't like you." asked Shadow
"I'll find a way to get her to go out with me, someday." replied Espio
"Well you could start by not going out with god damn hookers every night."
"What? Why should I? Why can't I get some on the side while I'm working on a way to get Ton?"
"Y'see, that's probably one of the things she doesn't like about you."
"He's right Es." said Vector, "Take it from me, I'm married and I know, women want commitment, they want a guy who'll stay with them no matter what and who'll put them before himself."
"That why your marriage is in the dumpster?" joked Espio
"Pretty much." answered Vector
"Look! We're here!" shouted Charmy, everyone looked down at the immense city below. Charmy landed the X-Jet on a rooftop and when Vector climbed he saw several people waiting for them. Everyone got out of the X-Jet and Vector was approached by a dark brown dog, who shook Vector's hand, "Sergeant Johnson of the Future City police force." said the dog
"Vector Crocodile, Head of the Chaotix detective agency. And this is my second in command," Vector motioned towards Shadow, "Shadow Hedgehog." Shadow and Johnson nodded at each other, "Mr Crocodile, we have called you here because we believe there is more to this case there appears. Please, follow me, I'll explain on the way." Johnson then turned and walked towards the doorway to the stairwell with the Chaotix and the other officers following, "Last night the Guardian of our city, Blade Echidna, was brutally murdered." explained Johnson as he opened a door and walked into a cold morgue with a table in the middle, there was something on the table covered in a white sheet. Johnson pulled the sheet off, revealing the corpse of a purple Echidna, who's head was badly burned and had several deep cuts all over his body, "He was found like this, in a street not far from here." said Johnson, "The only clue as to who did this was in the cuts, when he was found he had feathers in the cuts, razor sharp feathers." Everyone looked at each other, confused, as Johnson continued talking, "DNA analysis showed the feathers were from a woman named Thea Eagle, who was supposedly killed six months ago by Blade himself."
"So you think he didn't kill her?" said Shadow
"Well no bodies were ever found, the official story is that Blade killed Thea and the rest of the gang by blowing up their hideout. So either he failed to kill them or he's a dirty cop who staged the whole thing for publicity."
"You said she was in a gang?" said Vector
"Yes, Thea was the Extreme Gear expert for a gang called the 'Future City Scourge.' They were very similar to the Street Punks from Tech City, I understand you have encountered them before so you'll have an idea of they were like." Suddenly a light brown squirrel ran into the room, "Serge! Robbery at the National Bank. Three officers down." Johnson ran out of the room with the squirrel and the Chaotix following.